The report, based on a survey of over one lakh Indian student respondents from January 2024 to May 2025, said applications to Canada have declined from 18 per cent in FY 2022 to nine per cent in FY 2025.
After the recent tough action by the Trump government of America on Indian migrant students and H-1B visa holders, its neighbouring country Canada has also given a big blow to India. Canada has rejected 80% of Indian student visa applications in 2025. According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Canada rejected 80% of Indian student visa applications in 2025, which is the highest in a decade. According to the data, visa applications of applicants from other countries of Asia and Africa have also been rejected but Indian students have been the most affected.
This move of Canada has also affected the enrollment in the colleges there. According to the data of the Canadian government, in 2024, Canada gave admission to only about 1.88 lakh new Indian students, whereas till two years ago this number was more than double.
Canada is no longer a favourite country
Canada and America have been the favorite countries for Indian students, where they have been struggling for a long time to get higher education, but due to the bad behavior of both these countries and their indifferent attitude towards Indian students, the trend of Indian students has now shifted towards Germany. Germany has emerged as the top favorite country. Due to this, Canada is now the first choice of only 9 percent of the students.
Why is Canada closing the door?
Canada is closing its doors to students from countries around the world, including India, because there is a huge lack of residential facilities. Apart from this, there is pressure on the infrastructure. Canada has also been forced to take such action due to local politics. Canada has now changed its rules for issuing visas to students and has said that students applying for visas will have to fulfill more financial obligations than before. That is, now they will have to show papers of 20,000 Canadian dollars. Apart from this, detailed study plan and language test results will have to be submitted.
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Germany emerged as the top choice
Germany has overtaken Canada as the top choice of Indian students and has been preferred by 31% of the people. The preference for Canada has dropped from 18% in 2022 to 9% in 2024. On the other hand, applications from Indian students to US universities have also declined by 13 per cent year-on-year. On the other hand, admissions of Indian students in Germany have seen a growth of 32.6 per cent in 2024-25.
The Transnational Education (TNE) Report 2024-25 by edtech company upGrad states that the US is no longer the natural and most preferred educational destination for Indian students. It said that applications to US universities have declined by 13 per cent year-on-year, while European destinations such as Germany (up from 13.2 per cent in 2022 to 32.6 per cent in 2024-25) and the United Arab Emirates (where 42 per cent of international students are Indians) are witnessing unprecedented growth.
Western Asian cities are also becoming a favourite
According to the report, West Asia is increasingly becoming a viable and accessible study abroad destination for Indian students, with degree programmes available from global campuses. Satellite campuses of US universities including Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, RIT, Carnegie Mellon and Weill Cornell in Dubai and Qatar’s Education City offer degrees similar to those at their home institutions, it said. The US (19 per cent) and Canada (18 per cent) were the top destinations for Indian students in 2022, the report said.
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